What I’m going to do with all the five points is simply state what they are and then see what the bible says in regard to that particular doctrine. In effect what we are looking to do is find a picture that best fits the evidence. Calvin himself said (and I’m paraphrasing here) “We go where scripture leads, and where God choses to keep silent there we shut our mouths too”. Just about every biblical dotrine can be considered controversial, and this one is no different. However if we were to ignore any controversial doctrine we would be left with an empty bible, for what of “The Trinity” and “The Holy Spirit” and “Grace” and “Forgiveness” and so on.Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone seen Gangs of New York? Martin Scorcese at his bloodiest? If you have you may remember a scene where Leonardo Dicaprio’s Character engages his nemesis in a challenge, who eloquently conveys the message to both sides present. At the appointed time the gangs would gather to fight for control over the five points of New York City. A bloody battle ensued and afterwards it wasn’t particularly clear (at least to me) who won. Perhaps I should watch the movie again.

Today we face a similar challenge in our faith when it comes to reformed theology and in particular Salvation. At times it has resulted in a few battles. Some have left the Church over it, and some have come to appreciate the truth for what it really is. Many times it is not clear who has won, if indeed there is any victory to be had at all.Read the rest of this entry »

Every year there are 120,000 books published. Thats around 2300 per day.
There are thousands of radio stations, TV Channels, Movies, and Programmes on offer too. Then theres magazines; the countless array titles that pervade our local convenience stores. Not to mention newspapers. Finally we have the internet. The infinitely sprawling mass of information, opinion, commerce, and porn. Unfortunately for many the gospel has become entangled in all these media forms, and horribly diluted. Two idea dominate society today, one is current and the other a remnant from the enlightenment. They are rationalism and Post Modernism.Read the rest of this entry »

The Human race is an unfair and stupid competition.
A lot of runners don’t even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water.
Some people are born with a massive headstart,
every possible help to get along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side.
It’s not surprising some people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit on the grandstand, eat junk food and hurl abuse.
What we need in this race is lot more streakers.

Does the way I view the world change anything?
Will I live any differently if I believe something about the world to be true or false ?
Does belief change somethings and not other things?

I remember a BBQ I went to a while back. There were a lot of Christians present from all sorts of churches around the city. Somehow the conversation got onto whaling and how evil it is. At one point in the conversation a friend of mine interjected with “forget saving those whales, save the babies.”
The comment had a new sting about it that I hadn’t felt in a while. It was the sting of something hitting close to home. That night amongst all the Christians was a girl who had just had an abortion.
Is this the way Christians affect change in the world? By Protesting? Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about protesting. In our democratic country it should be encouraged. It helps keep those politicians in check. But does it really make sense as a Christian to blame the darkness for being, well, dark? Why don’t we accuse the light in this world of not being light enough.Isnt this what Jesus meant when he told the parable of salt and light? Read the rest of this entry »

I love the lyrics to this song, possibly because so much of it rings true for me in my life.
Its probably not all true, but there is some truth in it. All truth is Gods truth. If you find something true in this song, go ahead and claim it ”

Bas Luhrman – Everybodies free (to wear sunscreen)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.

My wife and I joined a lifegroup a few weeks back. As is the case with most life groups, the serious nights normally start out with an ice breaker. In this case everyone had their chance to tell the group how their week had been, and how they felt spiritually. People were quite honest with how they felt but i did start to notice a common theme in the responses as we went around the room. People seemed to beat themselves up about how little they had read their bibles and how little they had spent “time with God” that week. The more I listened the more my heart sank and i really felt for these people. I found it hard to relate to that way of Christianity. I’ve wrestled with what those people said and since then I’ve come to some conclusions and as usual – feel free to disagree with them.Read the rest of this entry »